spire

IPA: spˈaɪr

noun

  • (now rare) The stalk or stem of a plant.
  • A young shoot of a plant; a spear.
  • Any of various tall grasses, rushes, or sedges, such as the marram, the reed canary-grass, etc.
  • A sharp or tapering point.
  • (architecture) A tapering structure built on a roof or tower, especially as one of the central architectural features of a church or cathedral roof.
  • The top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit.
  • (mining) A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.
  • One of the sinuous foldings of a serpent or other reptile; a coil.
  • A spiral.
  • (geometry) The part of a spiral generated in one revolution of the straight line about the pole.

verb

  • (of a seed, plant etc.) to sprout, to send forth the early shoots of growth; to germinate.
  • To grow upwards rather than develop horizontally.
  • (transitive) To furnish with a spire.
  • (intransitive, obsolete) To breathe.
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Examples of "spire" in Sentences

  • The spire of the shell is conic.
  • The spire was the tallest in Nottingham.
  • The top floor of the tower is to the top of the spire.
  • Many churches have a weathercock on the tower or spire.
  • Problems afflicted the spire and tower throughout the 20th century.
  • The inner arches of the tower carried a spire of graceful proportions.
  • The architecture is of the Gothic style and the spire reaches 35 metres.
  • The chancel is slightly lower than the nave and the tower has a broach spire.
  • The clock tower of the Town Hall is the lesser spire on the left of the photo.
  • The vane was added to the church in 1746 when the spire was built on the tower.

Related Links

synonyms for spiredescribing words for spire
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